Massachusetts testing COVID-19 digital contact tracking application

A year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Massachusetts is experiencing a technological upgrade to its labor-intensive contact tracking efforts.

State public health officials initiated a pilot on Monday with the cities of Somerville and Methuen on the so-called MassNotify mobile app, which sends an alert to users if they are in close contact with someone who says the test was positive for COVID -19.

“It is a new tool in our toolbox to fight COVID,” said Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone. Boston Herald. “We have to do everything in our power to stop transmission from person to person.”

Amid concerns about an increase in coronavirus cases this spring with the vast majority of the population still unvaccinated, officials say the MassNotify app is intended to complement – not replace – existing human-powered contact tracking efforts of State.

The new system has the voluntary option for users to “Enable Exposure Notifications” in “Settings” on their iPhones or download the MassNotify app if they have an Android device.

If enabled, MassNotify then shares random and anonymous Bluetooth codes with the phones of others who are using the app. Officials emphasize that the app – developed by a new service developed with Google and Apple’s automatic exposure notification technology – is voluntary and does not share location data or personal information with any of the companies or state government (although the app itself collects personal information such as cell phone numbers in limited cases).

Those who test positive for COVID-19 can anonymously share their result via the app, and if they were close to someone else who activated MassNotify, the last individual will receive an alert about their possible exposure, along with a link to quarantine information. and testing.

The new pilot comes at a time when some have raised questions about the state’s $ 130 million contact tracking program, which involved more than 4,500 people manually calling nearby contacts to alert them of their possible exposure and provide assistance. Other states have also made “exposure notification” technology available to their residents; the Associated Press reported in December that 16 U.S. states, plus Guam and Washington, DC, were using some version of Google and Apple technology.

However, digital contact tracking efforts in these states are trying to reach East Asia and some European countries, where the adoption of the technology has been relatively widespread. The most successful state, Connecticut, saw 20 percent of residents choose to use the technology, the Associated Press reported at the time. In all other states, the absorption rate was between 1 and 10 percent.

State officials did not immediately say on Monday why they now chose to deploy the pilot. According to a presentation last week by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, exposure notification technology was not proven at the beginning of the pandemic, but more recent research has shown that it could “have a significant impact on public health as an addition to existing interventions “.

The authorities also noted that states that have used Google and Apple’s exposure notification technology have made progress in their adoption rates, especially compared to states that have used third-party applications.

“We are not yet out of danger,” said the presentation. “An additional public health tool can help combat COVID fatigue, help prevent the spread of potential new variants, and identify ongoing cases (especially as vaccination efforts continue, reopening prescriptions and increasing travel) . ”